Gaming devices, such as slot machines and video poker machines, provide fun and excitement to the player. Gaming, in general, provides an escape from the everyday rigors of life. Gaming devices use bright lights and exciting sounds to have the gaming machines stand out from other gaming machines. Gaming devices, in particular, use one or more displays that enable the player to see and play the game. The displays typically portray the action of the game and ultimately indicate whether or not the player wins and how much the player wins.
The quest for gaming instrumentalities which will provide greater game interest and entertainment among players who wager is an ongoing odyssey. Greater game interest translates into greater revenues for the owners of the games. More interest translates into more money wagered on a machine over time. A popular game will stay on a gaming floor for a longer amount of time since the game owner, such as a casino, will get more revenue from a popular game. Even popular games can have a drop off in popularity over time. New games or improved games generally enjoy a time of increased popularity. Therefore, the industry always seems to seek different ways of making even popular games have some level of newness. This piques players interest in the game so that it will draw high number of players while it has the new feature. If a new feature is introduced periodically, the overall numbers of players can be increased over a given time period. Increased numbers translates into increased revenue to the owner of the particular game. Different features or different displays or different aspects of game play can be introduced periodically to keep even popular games fresh and new and keep the players interested in coming to play a particular game.
In the recent past, most new games are based on video displays. The advent of the computer and the video monitor expanded the possibilities for gaming devices. There are now video poker, video blackjack and other types of video gaming machines. Video displays are popular and very versatile as any number of games can be offered by merely rendering the game on the video display. There is one phenomenon that is contrary to continually introducing brand new features on a video game. There is a nostalgic movement that provides appeal for some game players. Therefore, sometimes changing a game to include an old aspect or nostalgic feature also appeals to players and can be another way to introduce a change that attracts players to a game. One prime example is video slot machines. Reels were used in early “one-armed bandits”. To appeal to certain players, sometimes reels are rendered on video displays that replicate the reels. Some new video slot machines even include actual “old-time” reels and a handle to pull to cause the reels to move.
In addition to introducing new features or new game play to keep a game fresh, there are also other ways to maintain interest in a game. For example, bonus games attract and keep players at a gaming machine. As a result, bonus games in gaming machines have become much more prevalent and elaborate in recent years. The bonus game is typically a gaming machine or a random selection device having a gaming play that is enabled by a bonus qualifying signal from an underlying or primary gaming machine. Bonus games include an additional game feature contained within a single gaming machine. For example, in slot machines, video monitors have also been used to provide bonus or secondary games. Players play the base game of slot until becoming eligible for a bonus game. The base game temporarily pauses, while the player plays the bonus game. When the player completes the bonus game, the gaming device returns the player to the base game.
Accordingly, providing a gaming device that may use a video monitor, which provides increased flexibility to the gaming device to add more symbols and more elaborate bonus games, while providing some aspect of the gaming device that is mechanical and provides a fun and exciting mechanical display is desirable.